I couldn’t believe how much we were dreading leaving Maui. We were up at 6am again and pretty anxious to start our day. We knew we couldn’t afford to waste ANY time lazing around the hotel room. We put on our hiking outfits and headed off to a 7-mile hike. The trail we went on was called the Mahana Ridge Trail. Our first stop was at the general store to get some coffee, fruit and water. We were told it can take 3 hours to complete the 7-mile trail and we wanted to make sure that we had some refreshments in case we got lost! They assured us that not one person has ever gotten lost on the trail. Phew! Next, we walked to the Adventure Lodge to wait for a shuttle. They have a shuttle that comes 5 times a day and takes guests to the top of the mountain. It’s about 3000ft above sea level. The drive takes approximately 15min. It was 8am and Ben and I were the only ones at the shuttle stop. I don’t know if this is a good sign or a bad sign!?! We hopped in and rode to the top. Along the way you pass this ultra exclusive neighborhood with house that seem to have a 360-degree view of the island. Incredible.
The driver dropped us at the entrance to the path and we both just looked at each other, both not really sure what to think. It looked the opening to Jurassic Park. Not kidding. I was thinking we were about to go into a dinosaur feeding ground. It looked wild, lush, green and utterly intriguing. I did feel a little nervousness but I was assured that there are no snakes, no dangerous spiders, and no real “pests.” Not only is Hawaii amazing but also you can also go hiking in the jungle and not get eaten alive by anything! It reinforces my love for this place.
Here are some cool pictures of the views we had. The little flowers were so dainty and pretty. Ben even managed to spot coffee bean trees! The hike took us about 2 ½ hours. We had a fabulous time and were famished when we came back. Time for lunch! Mike had told us about some cool shops and restaurants in Kaanapali, which was just down the road from the Ritz. So we thought we would go take a walk around there and see if there were any good food places for lunch. We walked the boardwalk in front of many hotels for a little while looking at the different menus. Ben has taught me to never a make a food choice hastily and that every meal should be the best meal you have ever had. I take my time now when choosing what to eat. We picked a beach bar called “Leilani's” (www.leilanis.com). As we walked in the waitress greeted us and told us to pick any seat. As we were walking Ben whispered in my ear that he thought he knew the waitress. No way! I thought. How could we be on the other side of the world and see someone we know? It turns out she is a girl who works in Nantucket every summer, just like us!!! It was crazy…I couldn’t believe it. Her name is Holly and she is a bar tender on Nantucket in the summertime. She served us our incredible lunch and we had a chance to catch up and talk. Every winter she find s cool new place to work for the season. I love that! She didn’t have any idea where she was going to work next winter and I thought that was pretty awesome. She had a contagious lust for life that was hard to miss. Our meal was perfect! I had a tuna salad with strawberries, walnuts, feta, oranges and a strawberry dressing. Great flavor! Ben had a fish sandwich made with grilled swordfish and fries. One of us will ALWAYS order fries to share. We like to have fry taste tests when we eat out. We are always looking for the perfect French fry. We asked for the check and she had a surprise for us. She brought us the BIGGEST piece of ice cream cake I had ever seen. The signature dessert called the HULA PIE is worth every single calorie. It is vanilla macadamias nut ice cream with an Oreo butter crust with a layer of chocolate fudge and then it is topped with hot fudge and crushed macadamia nuts….OMG. We were in HEAVEN. I have never witnessed 2 people eat a dessert so fast. Ben and I waste no time on great food. We exchanged numbers with Holly and agreed to meet up with her and her boyfriend Scott who was from New Zealand around 9pm at Sansei, the place we went the night before.
In the afternoon we drove to Lahaina to look at a few art stores. We wanted to buy something the remind us of Maui but most paintings where way out of our price range and we knew we would find something on Kauai.
We had a few hours until sunset and a full bottle of champagne from the first night! Ben was so adorable; he came into the room all excited and told me to get ready. I didn’t know where we were going but I saw the champagne and strawberries and followed closely. He led me down to the beach for a romantic picnic on the beach. It was perfect. We drank the whole bottle and talked about how much we would miss Maui and how much fun we had had in the past 5 days. These are the moments I will never forget.
As for dinner, we wanted to make it best meal yet! We really LOVED the food at the bar in the Ritz and opted to stay there and have a casual meal but go all out and forget about healthy. We were having turkey clubs and fries and pizza! As for dessert, we knew we had to trying somewhere else. I wanted chocolate so we headed the Banyan Tree restaurant down by the pool. This is the restaurant to go to at the Ritz. We didn’t have enough time in our week to eat dinner there so I thought we should at least try the dessert. We ordered the chocolate tasting menu, which was unreal! It had chocolate cheesecake, chocolate mousse and chocolate ice cream. I ate pretty the whole thing.
At 9pm we met Holly and Scott. Let me just say I haven’t laughed that much in a long time. Holly was so funny! We really loved talking and getting to know both of them more. Scott was a real sweetheart and had many cool ideas and opinions of New Zealand. It was interesting to listen. He moved to Maui with Holly for a year from New Zealand. They met while Holly was touring around NZ. How cute!
Well this was our last night and we had mixed feelings. On one hand we were sad to leave and on the other we were about to venture into unchartered territory. We had no clue what lay ahead of us but we were eager to find out.
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